This is a proposal for a research Training Grant and reflects an increased commitment by The Children's Hospital Research Foundation to basic, molecularly-oriented research in the cardiovascular sciences. The proposed Training Grant, "Cardiovascular and Molecular Biology in the Young", will help support this new focus by enhancing the young clinician's basic research training in cardiovascular biology. The grant will provide stipends for four postdoctoral fellows drawn from M.D.s training in Pediatric Cardiology and other related subspecialties. The proposed training represents an integrated, innovative program that benefits from, and extends, related research and training programs supported by the NHLBI. The proposed program will identify and recruit promising young physicians and provide a two-three year research experience that will prepare them for an independent career in academic medicine. Scientific guidance, career development and course work will be obtained within the Department of Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital, within post-graduate programs at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and within the laboratories of each faculty advisor. The training faculty consist of established investigators whose programs, while diverse enough to offer a broad selection of potential training experiences, are all focused on applying molecular approaches to the study of systems related to cardiovascular development and function. The major themes include: study of gene expression during mammalian embryogenesis and formation of the heart, gene targeting of cardiac proteins, and the use of transgenics to study gene function and regulation. The grant will include an administrative core consisting of the Principal Investigators, an Executive Committee, and external and internal Advisory Boards. These will conduct an annual review of the progress of candidates. Ongoing studies will include courses focused to ethical issues in the conduct of science, grant and scientific writing, and the broad didactic bases necessary for understanding molecular biology. Thirteen distinguished faculty comprise the training program. These faculty share research interests, are on other grants together and have a long history of collaboration in establishing Cincinnati as a center for excellence in cardiovascular biology. Monthly research meetings and a program-sponsored distinguished lecturer, on an annual basis, will enhance the program. All of the trainees will have the M.D. degree, and will be selected on a competitive basis. Special attention will be given to recruitment of underrepresented minorities. The outcome will be a group of young physicians superbly equipped for carrying out basic molecular investigations in heart development, and pathobiological processes of cardiovascular disease in the young.